While the existing dash on this cab is pretty good, the plastic is okay, wheel is nice and the sticker is lovely, but things are far from 100%. There’s a couple of minor fag burns on the top of the plastic, the dials are a little yellowed, the shifter is tired and the shifter plastics could do with a refresh. I could just add a NOS shifter and shifter plastics and it would be fine, but ‘fine’ isn’t quite good enough on this cab

The simple thing to do would be to swap out the main dash plastic with a better one and replace the shifter parts.. but there’s a problem – the steering wheel has been welded onto the shaft so there’s no way to remove the dash plastic without cutting off the wheel. And then there’s that nice rare foil sticker – with Japanese text! I can’t lose that!

Solution – get another Japanese dash, strip it down and re-build with NOS parts. Then try and get the sticker off the old and onto the new without ruining it!!

So, easy bit first – source Japanese dash. I already have this one from a Jp F355 which although looks tatty, will be perfect as the only bit I’ll be using (the rear assembly) in in very nice condition. Japanese OR2 cabs use F355 dashes, minus the paddle shifter anyway..

Once stripped down you can see it’s very tidy and for those of an OCD nature, proof that it is a Japanese assembly; part number, earthing from frame to motor and that slight green hint to the powder coating

After a clean and re-grease, time to start building it up with NOS parts..

Bought this back in 2011 in the hope I’d find a suitable project for it. Now NLA from Sega.. what can it be??

Yep, back in 2011 you could still buy complete dash plastics! I got the last few NOS dash plastics available (minus dials and meter panel) a few years later but for this project my complete assembly will be used..

Protective film still on meter panel..

Blanking plate still in place – no need for this to come out as Jp cabs don’t have a credit button..

An array of tasty new parts..

Don’t forget the small details – this is a Japanese denomi plate (the UK version has two windows and a ‘UK’ suffix on the part number

Building up the dash – note the converter loom used on the shifter – this is how it was originally so not me hacking..

All done, but one glaring omission..

Can’t put off that dash sticker any longer! If it goes tits up at least I know that quality repros are available now, it’s just that the text would be in English which just isn’t quite as cool..

Luckily it’s a thick sticker, not just regular vinyl, so with a LOT of patience it gradually starts to come free..

After an hour or so without breathing it’s off, cleaned up and on the NOS dash plastic! A few small issues, but it turned out much better than I dreaded! Well worth the effort – this will do nicely..

Really happy how this has turned out - I’m much calmer now I don’t see any blemishes on the dash plastic! I’m not a fan of everything being NOS if it’s not necessary, but there’s something very satisfying about a nice clean dash.

Nearly there now – just a few stickers to apply to the seat back and base sides, and hopefully a nice little surprise for the end..

Managed to get hold of a nice lower under seat protector cover. It was missing on this cab and while you rarely see it, the cab just wasn’t going to be complete without one! Tricky to find though as it’s a different part than the ones used on UK seats..

UK/Euro version – used on pretty much all Model 3 racers right through to OutRun2..

Japanese version – for Japanese builds only – also used on F355 deluxe cabs..

Much nicer than a big gap – plus it’s in such good condition it didn’t even need powder coating to match the rest of the seat base – what a bonus!

To see your beautiful cabinet brings me back to the first time that I played Outrun 2 (Special Tours) on location. The cabinet was brand new, and looked almost as nice as yours. I had been following news about Outrun 2 for a long time, but the game never came to Norway. I was on holiday in Hong Kong when I saw it for the first time, in a small street level arcade in Mong Kok. I'll never forget how beautiful the new dashboard, steering wheel and gear shift looked and felt, and your cab really takes me back to that day. Your restoration is perfect!

Seeing Mozie's post about his cracking looking OutRun2 reminded me I needed to update this thread with the cherry on the top of the icing on the cake.. I finally found the super rare versus mode 'network pop'

These were only fitted to (some) Japanese cabs so you probably won't see them in the UK. TBH they wouldn't have lasted five minutes on location here as they are made of thin plastic - pretty delicate and easily damaged so you can imagine some chav would have nicked/butchered it as soon as see it!

But how cool are they?

And just for good measure I found the initial D version for my iD3 cab as well! Sad, but it's these little touches that just make Japanese cabs for me

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